1. Technical Field
Embodiments generally relate to falls risk assessments. More particularly, embodiments relate to the quantitative assessment of falls risk using body-worn kinematic sensors.
2. Discussion
Falls in the elderly may represent a substantial healthcare problem worldwide. Indeed, a significant percentage of people over seventy years of age experience a significant fall, and the frequency of falls increases with age and the level of frailty. The timed up and go (TUG) test was developed as a tool to screen for balance problems in older individuals. In the TUG test, the individual gets up from a chair, walks three meters, turns at a designated spot, returns to the seat and sits down, wherein the total time taken to perform the test may generally be considered as indicative of the frailty of the individual. While it may be generally inferred that elders with longer TUG times can be more likely to fall than those with shorter TUG times, there still remains considerable room for improvement with regard to the use of the TUG test to conduct falls risk assessments. In particular, there currently may be a limited understanding of which specific portions or segments of the TUG test provide its predictive power for falls.